The Jeep Is Just Too Damned High

Inspirational song: (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher (Jackie Wilson)

I saw my surgeon for what I assume was the last time yesterday. He is very pleased with how my incision sites are healing. He's also happy that I am working on weaning myself off of the stepped-down painkillers already. I told the doctor that I have a seventeen and a twenty pound cat, and I wanted to know whether I'm allowed to lift them yet. He said yes, but Jackie is my weight limit, and I have to be very careful about lifting her correctly. I've been feeling physically stronger than I have in a long time, however my stamina is almost non-existent. I can do good things in little bursts, and that's all I have. Yesterday afternoon, I decided it was time to wash my car, since I have been leaving it in the driveway instead of the garage for weeks. I made it through about half of it before I realized I was in over my head. I was committed by that point, and had to power through it, but it left me so exhausted, physically and mentally, I have been feeling awful ever since. I slept poorly last night, and it took me hours to get pills taken and to derive any good from them today. And all of that was for very little benefit. The pine trees have started spitting pollen, and my beautiful blue car is covered in a fine yellow powder. Gee, I'm glad I put in all that work.

For the first time since the man started working on his Jeep restoration, I went out to the auto body shop out in the country, to see the progress for myself. He had warned me that between the rebuild of worn out parts and the two inch lift kit that he put on it, the frame is going to sit significantly higher than it did before. He wanted me to stand next to it in person, to understand just how high this vehicle will sit. Wow. He showed me where he can weld on a little bit of a step, but even that will be even with my knee. The opening of the door will be eight inches above that. I think I will need a fold-out step like they used to have on carriages in the old days. I tried to get a photograph of the mounting bracket where the body will sit, next to my leg. The mount was a few inches above my knee, and I was even wearing thick-soled sandals that raised me up a bit. Getting in and out of this Jeep will be really tricky for me. Never going to happen quickly. (But I could say the same thing about the restoration. It still barely looks like a vehicle.)